Cationic surfactants have been the focus of wide spread interest over decades due to their ability to self-assemble in super molecular structures such as micelles. The aggregates formed create sharp polarity gradients at the interface and define clear hydrophobic regions in an aqueous solution. Those properties are of fundamental importance for the creation of new materials.
Surfactant metal complexes are expected to provide a wide range of interesting phenomena on the aggregation behavior in aqueous solution due to a variety of their charge numbers, size and extent of hydrophopicity by a combination of a central metal and ligands. However, their physical properties in solutions have not been extensively studied. In the studies so far performed, novel characters of surfactant metal complexes have been revealed, and the results should provide significant information on surfactant solution chemistry. Metaloaggregates are made of surfactants that combine a metal-coordinating polar head to hydrophobic tail. The polar head of the surfactant is functionalized with metal ions are bound to and surrounded by hydrophobic region, similar to the situation found in metalloproteinase. The antimicrobial action of cationic surfactant is based on their ability to disrupt the integral bacterial membrane by a combined hydrophobic and electrostatic adsorption phenomenon at the membrane water interface making disorganization. The pathogenic bacterial cell membrane is predominantly negatively charged as compared with eukaryotic cells. Hence the positive charge of the cationic amphiphile facilitates their interactions with bacterial membrane.
The main goal of cancer therapy is to attain maximum therapeutic damage of tumor cells in combination with minimum concentration of the drug. This can be achieved in principle via selective antitumor preparations, the cytostatic effects of which would be restricted within tumor tissue. While 100% selectivity may be impractical, achievement of reasonably high selectivity seems to be a feasible aim. The bioenergetic status in tumor was selective and affected by the Metal complexes. Minimization of signals of high-energy phosphate was observed after injection of the complexes. An increase of the number of DNA single-strand breaks registered in tumor tissue, supporting the suggestion that complexes may directly affect DNA, but the action of these complexes as antitumor agents found to be dependent on the type of tumer cell line tested.